Diptych of Philip de Croÿ with The Virgin and Child

The Diptych of Philip de Croÿ with The Virgin and Child consists of a pair of small oil-on-oak panels painted c. 1460 by the Netherlandish artist Rogier van der Weyden.

While the authorship and dating of both works are not in doubt, it is believed but not proven that they were created as wings of a devotional diptych and that at some unknown time the panels were broken apart.

[1] A diptych panel fitting the description of the Mary wing was described in a 1629 inventory of paintings owned by Alexandre d'Arenberg, a descendant of Philip I de Croÿ (1435–1511).

The left wing, today in San Marino, shows the Virgin and Child on a gold ground depicted in a style indebted to Byzantine Marian icons,[5] and their Italo-Byzantine derivatives.

Van der Weyden underscores the idea of the Virgin panel being an unearthly apparition before the donor by giving her wing a golden background which contrasting sharply with de Croÿ's more muted and ordinary flat backdrop.

Art historian Martha Wolff suggests the implication of this gesture is to extend the connection to the actual viewer presumably worshiping at the diptych -like de Croÿ- before the mother and child.

Similarly, the donor's portrait is always set against a flat dark nondescript background, while the Virgin and Child are framed against brilliantly lit golden or gilded backdrops.

Van der Weyden responded with half length Marian portraits which echoed in style and colour the Byzantine icons then popular in Italy as "miracle" working paintings.

Mary shares many of the idealised facial features seen in late period van der Weyden depictions of the Madonna; she has olive eyes, a high forehead, and symmetrical, arched eyebrows.

[2] Van der Weyden flatters his sitter by endeavouring to conceal the young Belgian's large nose and undershot jaw, presenting a picture of a refined and pious nobleman.

This is assuming that the sitter is Burgundian and not a foreign visitor; the identifying crest on the outer wings as well as his pointed Northern European facial features argue against this possibility.